Beyond the athletic rigors inherent to backcountry winter sports (for example, mountaineering, ice climbing, or heli-skiing) the challenges of such pastimes include, without limitation, the risk of avalanches, and the logistical issues associated with carrying the necessary gear in a way that permits quick access to safety gear (for example, avalanche airbags and beacons), and at the same time, distributes the weight and volume of the gear in a manner that does not impair the wearer's balance and range of motion. Much mountaineering safety gear is platform-specific, in the sense that the safety equipment comprises an integral component of a specific backpack or family of backpacks. As such, practitioners of backcountry winter sports may be presented with the unpalatable choice between a pack which includes an airbag system but falls short in terms of providing the necessary weight distribution and comfort for a given application, or a better-performing pack which lacks an avalanche airbag system. For example, a user may wear a relatively small, form-fitting pack optimized for backcountry skiing or snowboarding, and a larger pack optimized for trekking or mountaineering. Packs with integrated avalanche airbag systems may be unsuitable for both skiing and mountaineering. Additionally, packs with integrated airbag systems may not provide users with the option of carrying multiple avalanche airbags, thereby denying users of the added security of a backup airbag, in case one airbag fails to inflate, or the user cannot reach the trigger for the airbag.